Mixing, aeration, resuspending, and homogenizing of substances, cells and particles contained in test tubes are regularly used in biological, medical, chemical and similar types of research procedures including growing bacterial, yeast and tissue cultures, DNA mini-prep preparation, nuclear extract preparation, membrane blotting, etc.
Different types of devices - mixers, shakers, test tube rollers, etc.--are used for the above purposes. Different principles of treatment of substances are employed in these devices. For example, combination of vibrating and spinning of the tubes is usually used for vigorous mixing of substances. Shaking of substances is provided by seesaw motion or gentle rotation of the tubes. For aeration slow rotation of the tubes inside a tube bolder is used.
As the main drawbacks of the existing technology it is noted that the devices are complicated an expensive, applicable only for very specific processes, a lot of precious laboratory space is required for installation of a set of necessary devices.